Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) 

I would like to share a little on the common Bible story of three Hebrew boys who refused to compromise their faith in God even if it meant losing their lives for it. The story of Shadrach, Meshach and a baaad negro, I mean Abednego has been referenced many a time by preachers to illustrate unshakeable, resolute faith.  

But this story is meant to be more than one to use as a reference. It is a story meant to be lived, to be demonstrated, exemplified and emulated.  

There are no kings today demanding people to worship a statue, but there are government systems, popularized cultural trends and leaders of those trends and systems today who demand that people would think a certain way or else such people who do not agree are regarded as bigots or haters.  

I know there are people in some parts of the world deciding between renouncing their faith in Jesus and keeping their lives or maintaining faith in Jesus and undergoing a beheading for their faith. 

In my life as a follower of Jesus, I have never once experienced any of this or been given the ultimatum to worship a man made idol or else I'd be cast into a burning furnace. 

As a follower and believer in Christ though, I have encountered many a difficult season that has left me questioning my reasons for believing in God as a deliverer.  

Don't get me wrong, I trust in God more today than I did yesterday. This is no longer just because of what God has done over the years, but also because of what He has withheld, the trials He has allowed to linger and happen. 

While many of us may not be given ultimatums to worship a physical idol in this generation, (It is probably happening somewhere in the world right now), our faith is going to be tested by hard seasons. (This is definitely happening right now.)
It is the hard seasons that give us ultimatums. Will you worship Jesus in the midst of it or will you succumb to grumbling and complaining?  

Did you know that grumbling and complaining are actually a form of worship? They tend make a big deal of your hardships instead of making a big deal of your God. I'll give you a minute to let that sink in.  

I have shared many times including in both my books "Identity" and "The Faith Nomad" both on Amazon that several years ago, God set me on an undescribed journey of faith, saying walk like Abraham. Leave your church, leave your home in eastern Uganda, and go to America and walk like Abraham for the next phase of your life.   

It is easy to anticipate God's abundant blessings when He calls you to follow Him into the great unknown. I mean how else does He who called you expect you to survive unless He provides and makes a way, right?  

But faith is tested when what seemed like and invitation to follow a God of abundant provision and assured blessings turns into a walk of abundant survival for the fittest. When what seemed to have an absolutely certain end, becomes unclear and very foggy for a long time, and the God who called you seems very absent. This is when faith is tested.

This is usually our Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego moment. The moment where we dig in our heels and say, "Even if He doesn’t come through and save, we will not bow to the idol of doubt and unbelief." Or when we say like Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

This also for us today is when we say, I will not compromise my biblical convictions just so I can fit in or just so I can be accepted by some. I'd rather stand with God than with men.
This pivotal moment for some is when they resign to the elements and come up with excuses for compromise.  

The so called "progressive" culture of this day in America seems to demand a certain way of thinking. It demands that people bow down and worship at the alter of lifestyles God condemned in Sodom and Gomorah or else those who refuse to are branded bigots and haters.  

If you asked Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they would with stern resolve say, call us what you may, we will not bow down to your cultural idol, we will instead bow down to YAHWEH.  

Every generation since creation has required people with the resolve of the three Hebrew boys in the face of trials, hardships, cultural pressure to say, "IN GOD WE TRUST."
Not in the "progressive" god of this world who is ever evolving like a chameleon and has no standards, but in the eternal, unchanging, forever perfect YAHWEH, ELOHIM, JEHOVAH WE TRUST."  

We know that if He doesn’t show Himself strong today, right now, He will definitely show Himself strong at the right time. Our God, YAHWEH will be the last man standing. This is our final answer to the culture today, and we are not going back on this.